Newcastle United clawed their way closer to Premier League safety after a hard fought but deserved 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at St James' Park. This triumph now puts clear daylight between themselves and the bottom three with a seven-point gap between United and Burnley - who were thumped 4-0 at home to Chelsea.
Newcastle may still be sitting in 14th place but they now have breathing space ahead of a mammoth four-game stretch of road trips. It may have been nervy towards the end but Newcastle were full value for the win after storming into an early 2-0 lead.
United tested Brighton after only 90 seconds when Joe Willock got down the right before whipping in a cross for Ryan Fraser but his shot went straight at the goalkeeper. The Seagulls responded after winning a corner but Shane Duffy could only head wide from the corner kick.
But Newcastle grabbed the lead on 12 minutes after Chris Wood's superb through ball found Jacob Murphy. The winger then raced through before dinking the ball off the post but Fraser followed in and applied the finish to make it 1-0.
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Within two minutes that lead had been doubled as Fraser floated in a superb free-kick with Fabian Schar rising high to power home a header and extend the advantage to 2-0. At that point opposing boss Graham Potter simply slumped into his seat with his head down - he knew it was the worst case scenario, not least with St James' Park absolutely jumping.
However, Brighton, to their credit, kept going and Newcastle were indebted to Martin Dubravka who made a sprawling save to deny Danny Welbeck on the half-hour mark. Having survived a late injury scare for Matt Targett, Newcastle won a corner on 43 minutes. Targett swung the ball in for Dan Burn but he headed wide of the target. A mix-up moments later then handed Murphy a chance but he struck it straight at the keeper.
Despite commanding two-goal cushion, Brighton bossed possession and managed nine goal attempts in the first half. But they could only manage one effort on target. If Brighton felt hard done by after the first 45 minutes though they were boosted inside the first 10 minutes of the second half. Leandro Trossard's corner was drifted in and Lewis Dunk got up ahead of Dubravka to head home.
Brighton made a double change just before the hour mark as Neal Maupay and Solly March came on for Jakub Moder and Tariq Lamptey. That called for focus from the Magpies with 2-1 deemed a dangerous scoreline in football. Albion defender Shane Duffy was booked for a late challenge on Chris Wood on 64 minutes. Howe then made his first change of the day when he introduced Allan Saint-Maximin for Murphy. But it was the visitors who kept on pushing and Newcastle were again indebted to Dubravka for a fine save to deny Dunk with 20 minutes left.
Newcastle made their next change when Fraser came off to a standing ovation to be replaced by Bruno Guimaraes. The move paid off as Bruno soaked up some of the pressure in midfield and helped eke out the result.
Understandably the game became scrappy in the closing stages with Joelinton booked for lashing out at Marc Cucurella. United ate up a few more second in injury time when Sean Longstaff came on for Willock. Despite some late jitters Newcastle held on for a big win at St James' Park.
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